Free to Good Home.....

That's pretty much what I was saying about my boys on Wednesday.

Every year I take them to Loblaws to get their pictures taken.  Usually we're in and out and it's easy.  This year was not the case.  I booked the appointment for after school so I picked them up and dashed to the store.

Lesson number 1:  DO NOT book appointments for after school.  The kids were full of beans after having been cooped up all day.

We get to the studio and the boys were pretty much doing backflips.   They were going into all the cupboards an pulling out all the props they use for the photos.

I finally got Quinn in front of the camera, but he was too fidgety.  He kept moving around making the shot extremely difficult.  He was busy smiling and having a great time, but every time the photographer would take a picture he'd move.

Lesson number 2:  chairs with straps are apparently needed to hold kids still for the photos.

Next up, Aidan.


Lesson number 3:  ALWAYS bring a brush and hair gel to the photo studio. 

Aidan's hair was a complete mess because he'd been wearing his hat and playing outside.   Did I mention that Aidan has decided to grow his hair long like Shaggy in Scooby Doo?  Winter touque + sweaty head = really bad hair.  Since I didn't bring a brush or gel, the only option available to me was the old 'lick your fingers and rake them through the hair" trick.  EEWWWW!  Needless to say, Aidan was not impressed.

Finally I put the two of them together to get the 'loving brother' shot.  Well by this point they were done, done DONE with taking pictures.  They were too busy messing around with each other  to actually pose for a shot.


Lesson number 4:  Apparently one must self-medicate prior to children's photo shoots

GGGGGGRRRRRR!!!!  When all was said and done, I was ready to put the two of them out to the curb with a sign that said:  "Free to good home".  Heck, by that point the sign would have read:  "I'll pay YOU to take my kids!!"

But, when I went back a few days later to pick up the photos I realized things must not have been as as I thought because the photos actually came out pretty well.  Too look at them, you'd never know that they were holy terrors during the shoot.

So after all that, here are the boys 7 and 5 year photos:

Aidan at 7 years old:

Quinn at 5:

The two rascals: